Masters 2023 Eligibility Criteria allows all eligible golfers to compete, including some members of LIV Golf
Augusta National Golf Club President Fred Ridley announced Tuesday that there will be no changes to the organization’s eligibility criteria ahead of the 2023 Masters as invitations to next year’s tournament are pending. implementation process. As such, all eligible golfers will be allowed to compete in the Masters, regardless of professional affiliation.
“Regrettably, recent actions have divided men’s professional golf by undermining the value of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it. Although we are disappointed in the development, but our focus is on honoring the tradition of bringing together elite golfers this coming April,” Ridley wrote.
“So when invitations are sent out this week, we’ll be inviting those who qualify under our current criteria for the 2023 Masters Tournament. As we’ve said before, we consider every single one of our teams. aspect of the Tournament each year and any amendments or changes to the invitation criteria for future Tournaments will be announced in April.”
Although not specified in print, Ridley is here primarily referring to the eligibility of those currently playing for LIV Golf. In total, 16 LIV Golf players were eligible to participate masters through established criteria: past champions, major championship exemptions and/or ranking in the top 50 of the Official World Golf Rankings at the end of the year.
This is the same criterion that Augusta National has used for many years, and LIV members were similarly qualified to compete at the Masters last season.
Past Masters champions currently playing for LIV include Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel and Sergio Garcia; All are exempt for life. Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka also qualify for the next several years based on recent major championship wins. However, for the remaining seven golfers – including young golfers like Joaquin Niemann – qualifying for the future will only become more difficult as LIV fails to receive OWGR points for its events. .
As a result, eligible LIV golfers may play in decreasing numbers over the years unless the eligibility criteria change or the LIV is awarded an OWGR score. Likewise, it will be difficult for additional members of the LIV round to qualify successfully in the future. For those currently competing, a win will give them a lifetime invitation, but an easier achievement might be a top 12 finish, which used to come with an invitation to the championship. enemy next year.
